Picking Up a Few Caches in Tumwater

It was 84 degrees and very humid today and after work I decided to pick up a few in Tumwater I have been ignoring (not really ignoring, just unable to get at that time) during the past two years.  All of them were around the Tumwater Hill area and I wanted to do them the other day but other stuff came up instead.

I changed my work clothes into something more comfortable...tank top and shorts it is!  I put the first cache into the Nuvi and it took me to the freeway.  I should have went the other way but oh well.  I got onto I-5 and got off at the Tumwater Falls exit, over the freeway and into the residential area.  I followed Nuvi's directions to a dead end road.  I couldn't' find a place to park so I went to the next dead end road and found a spot.  I should have taken the other one because the distance to the cache was a lot shorter and it avoided the sticker bushes.  I have a few scratches on my arms and legs. 

DeSoto Creek (GC6A5EP) was a bugger to find.  I weaved in and out of the Cedar trees and the chain link fence looking, digging and wondering where a 1.5 difficulty could be.  I looked for about 15 minutes and then decided to call Bob and Bev, who found it two months ago...maybe they will remember where it was?  I called and hoped they answered; I really didn't want to come back again.  Bev answered and tried her best to explain where it was and then she handed it to Bob.  Apparently it is not anywhere near the cement structure but outside on the grassy knoll near a root.  I was also on the wrong side of the trees.  Lame.  I did find the cache, sign the log and talk to Bev about upcoming events and whatnot all until I got back into the Escape.

I put the coords into the Nuvi for Girl Scouting Cache (GC6F7QW) and headed towards it.  It wasn't too far from Uncle Kevin's house.  There was a nice pull out from the road to park in.  I got out and walked the 25 feet to where I thought the cache was.  There it was a plastic storage container covered by sticks and moss.  Not too hard to find.  I logged my name, put it back and headed off to the next closest traditional.

This next cache, Welcome to the Neighborhood (GC5HGXM) was located in a nice little neighborhood except there wasn't any parking and I had to park next to someone's front yard and walk town to the walking loop with a retention pond in the middle of it.  I walked past a guy walking his dog as I entered the loop trail.  I got a Facebook message from Ben telling me that he was in the Lewis County paper for the fire that broke out last night at a Chehalis fire station.  How cool!  I made the decision to head to Tenino after I was done with this cache.  I called Grammie to talk to her for a bit and to tell her that Ben made the Chronicle.  The cache was one of those "slap" bracelets from the late 80's and early 90's.  We definitely had one or two as kids.  I'm not sure what they made it out of but the outside was black duct tape and it worked for the spot.  The last one I remember finding like this was the Portland Cache Machine back in June 2011.

I saw some giant scary clouds hovering above Tumwater.  There might be some rain and thunderstorms in the workings.

On towards Tenino.  I needed to get at least 5 copies of the paper if they had that many.  I stopped by Dave's Market Place first and they had the Chronicle but papers from last Thursday and Sunday.  They said they didn't carry today's paper and they would probably see them around Wednesday or Thursday.  How lame!  I stopped by Hidden's Pharmacy and they didn't carry that paper and the two gas stations in town, neither of them had it either.  UGH!  How frustrating!

I just went home and made dinner for dad and I.   Mom was at a relay for life meeting.  I washed some clothes and started some more of my Seahawk signs.

Next Adventure:  Kitsap Peninsula, State Parks and Frog Rock